On this day in 1914, 30th July, Russia orders general mobilization. The countdown for British involvement in this conflict, is on.
What was meant to be the fourth Balkans War is fast morphing into the First World War. A little over twenty hours earlier the guns of Austro-Hungarian warships had commenced shelling Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, Tsarist Russia’s main ally in the Balkans.
A few days earlier, in response to Austrian mobilization, the Tsar orders Russian forces in the four sectors facing the Austro-Hungarian empire to go onto alert. Will it stop here? Can the war that has already broken out be contained to the Balkans?
A series of ten telegrams between the German Emperor (Willy) and the Russian Tsar (Nicky) then commences. They are full of cousinly warmth and declarations of good intent but they boil down to a simple metric, one side has to back down or there will be war.
The German’s want the Russian to stay out of the war between Austria and Serbia, while the Russians want the Germans to rein in their Hapsburg junior partners. This gives the Tsar pause for thought and he resists general mobilization initially. However, the Russian government fear that should they not mobilize their forces then they will be caught out by a swift attack from the Central Powers.
As the hours tick away and tensions rise, the Willy-Nicky telegrams change tone and the cousins start to warn each that they will not be able to hold off general mobilization. They each profess themselves almost to be trapped by the tide of events leading their nations to war. Finally, on 30th July 1914, the Tsar takes the momentous step of confirming the order for general mobilization across the whole of its frontier facing the Central Powers. Europe is on the brink of calamity.
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